Jewish Monotheism
The major distinctive of the religion of ancient Israel was its commitment to monotheism, the belief in one God. The people of Israel did not always live up to that ideal, and without doubt many were henotheists (those who believe in one particular deity) as opposed to genuine monotheists (those who believe that there is only one God).3
In any event, Israelite monotheism was quite remarkable in light of the fact that, with rare exception, the ancient Near East was a polytheistic world. Most peoples worshipped many gods, even if one or two of their deities were held in especially high regard (such as Baal by the Philistines or Marduk by the Babylonians). The temptation faced by the ancient kings of Israel was to compromise their monotheistic faith by agreeing to treaties with other nations in which the gods of these nations would be respected, perhaps even worshipped. Sometimes this meant placing an image (or idol) of a foreign deity in the city of Jerusalem, perhaps in the temple sanctuary itself. It was against this sort of thing that the Old Testament prophets spoke so harshly, calling Israel a harlot for chasing after other lovers, as it were (e.g., Isa 1:21; Jer 3:1; Ezek 16:26).
In the aftermath of destruction and exile at the hands of the Babylonians (586 BC), the people of Israel had learned their lesson. The nation was now committed to the ancient command of Moses:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut 6:4–9)
This is the famous passage known as the Shema’ (“Hear”). In Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of Moses, in which the Law is given a second time (for the benefit of the generation of Israelites about to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land), Israel is commanded to love the Lord their God. But even here it would be possible to hold to henotheism, loyally holding to only one God (Yahweh), but at the same time, at least in principle, acknowledging the existence of other gods.
It is against this possibility that Isaiah speaks, giving voice to the word of Yahweh:
“You are my witnesses,” says the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” (Isa 43:10)
“Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.” (Isa 44:8)
These prophetic utterances give clear expression to what we would today call strict monotheism. Isaiah asserts that there simply is no other God than Yahweh (or “the LORD”). He and he alone is God. No god existed before Yahweh and no god will exist after him. There is no god besides Yahweh. Moses and the prophets were not only monotheists; they were Yahwists. That is to say, the God they believed in was Yahweh, the God of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The people of Israel are commanded to embrace monotheism and not merely henotheism.
Jewish monotheism only intensified in the struggle against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Syrian Greek ruler who in 167 BC attempted to coerce the Jewish people into giving up their ancestral faith and embracing that of the Greeks. The attempt failed, resulting in an independent Jewish state and a deeply entrenched commitment to Yahweh as Israel’s only God. Those who suffered and died for their faith in Yahweh (the “Maccabean martyrs”) were regarded as heroes and exemplary models. Polytheism or belief in another god was simply not an option for anyone at the turn of the era who claimed to be a true Jew.
It has sometimes been suggested that Jews worshipped angelic figures, in addition to God. But the evidence does not support this proposal. Angels and various powers were shown great respect, perhaps even venerated on occasion, but there really is no evidence that Jews who were committed to their ancestral faith worshipped angels.4 Jews in the time of Jesus never offered sacrifices to an angel—only to God. Jewish mystics may have attempted, or even experienced, a form of soul-ascent, whereby they entered heaven and partook in angelic liturgies, but they did not worship angels. They, along with the angels, worshipped God.
The divinity of Jesus—however it arose in the thinking of the followers of Jesus—must be interpreted against the backdrop of Jewish monotheism, belief in one supreme, absolute God, maker of all things, to whom everyone is accountable. How belief in Jesus as “God in the flesh” arose in what in its first decades was predominantly Jewish is the big question we must ponder.
Jewish Ideas Regarding the Awaited Messiah
At the beginning of the first century, in which Jesus and his future disciples and followers were raised, a number of Jews held to messianic ideas and hopes. It is quite likely that at least two of the persons who attempted to gain control of Israel when Herod the Great died (4 or 1 BC) saw themselves as Israel’s anointed kings. During the revolt against Rome (AD 66–73), it is probable that another one or two men claimed to be Israel’s divinely anointed king.
A survey of the literature that was produced in the intertestamental period (i.e., between the Old and New Testaments, or from about 400 BC to the beginning of the first century AD) shows that Jews held to a variety of messianic ideas and expectations.5 Much of this expectation was anchored in a few specific Old Testament texts, such as Genesis 49:8–12, Numbers 24:17 and Isaiah 11:1–16. The idea that Israel’s anointed king would in some sense be God’s son is expressed in 2 Samuel 7:12–16 and Psalm 2:2, 7; 89:26–29. The latter texts provide much of the inspiration for the prophecy found in a first-century BC Aramaic text recovered from among the Dead Sea Scrolls:
[His son] will be called “The Great,” and be designated by his name. He will be called the “Son of God,” they will call him the “Son of the Most High.” But like the meteors that you saw in your vision, so will be their kingdom. They will reign only a few years over the land, while people tramples people and nation tramples nation. Until the people of God arise; then all will have rest from warfare. Their kingdom will be an eternal kingdom, and all their paths will be righteous. They will judge the land justly, and all nations will make peace. Warfare will cease from the land, and all the nations shall do obeisance to them. The great God will be their help, he himself will fight for them, putting peoples into their power, overthrowing them all before them. God’s rule will be an eternal rule. (4Q246 1:9–2:9)6
The expected figure in this prophetic vision will be called “The Great,” “Son of God,” and “Son of the Most High.” He and the people of God will experience an “eternal kingdom.” Those who know the Gospels well will immediately be reminded of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary regarding the conception and birth of her son Jesus:
“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end…the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Luke 1:32–33, 35)
Here we find the same titles and concepts: Jesus will be “great,” he will be called the “Son of the Most High” and the “Son of God,” and he will reign forever (or eternally).
Another fragmentary scroll from Qumran, this one written in Hebrew and also dating to the first century BC, describes what will take place when God’s Messiah makes his appearance:
The heavens and the earth shall obey his Messiah and all which is in them shall not turn away from the commandments of the holy ones. Strengthen yourselves, O you who seek the Lord, in his service. Will you not find the Lord in this, all those who hope in their heart? For the Lord attends to the pious and calls the righteous by name. Over the humble his spirit hovers, and he renews the